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Your Heart Heart’s Yoga

In a delightful publication in BestLife Magazine, Dr. Oz spoke of the importance of daily activity with a specific reference to doing a morning’s worth of yoga.

With the stressors that seem to mount everyday, we must take action to keep our minds and body’s in top-notch condition. This is arguably done best by gaining strength in heart. Our heart is the central organ the provides for us the blood we need to the entirety of our body. The way we think, breath and live are all interdependent on the strength of the heart. Therefore, we should be ever conscious of how we treat it — more importantly — how we care for it.

In honor of Dr. Oz, here are several yoga posses that should be taken daily, as a cardiovascular strengthening pill.

Supported corpse pose (salamba savasana)

Physical benefit: Opens the chest, shoulders, and neck musclesMental benefit: Poses practiced on the floor like this one promote calm and serenity, while the support of the floor and blankets make you feel coddled. Practice this pose whenever you have difficulty relaxing or falling asleep. Its comforting nature will put your anxious mind at ease.

Wide-legged forward bend (prasarita padottanasana)

Physical benefit: Stretches the legs, pelvis, and shoulders Mental benefit: The wide stance in this pose makes you feel deeply connected with the earth, making you feel grounded and strong. The intense stretch in the chest, back, and shoulders frees up your heart and makes you feel (and appear) more open to love.

Tree pose (vrksasana) (A)

Physical benefit: Stretches and strengthens the pelvis and legs, lengthens the torso, opens the hips Mental benefit: Teetering back and forth? It’s okay, trees sway in the wind too. The focus this pose requires teaches you to channel your energy away from your sadness and into the task at hand: Balance. The more secure you begin to feel in this pose, the more secure you will feel emotionally too.

Tree pose (vrksasana) (B)

Rooting down through the left leg, extend your arms up toward the sky, shoulder-width apart, palms facing each other. Now, gently lean your torso back into a slight backbend. Hold for 3 to 10 breaths and repeat on the opposite side.

Dancer pose (natarajasana), modified

Physical benefit: Lengthens and strengthens the thigh muscles while opening the upper body Mental benefit: There’s nothing easy about this pose, but still, it’s beautiful. Dancer’s pose teaches you to find beauty and humor in chaos.

Portions of the information in this article are curtesy of Women’sHealth.